Augh, still a day late, I'm sorry! I would love to give you a legitimate excuse, but I was busy making poor life decisions and watching the entire season of Daredevil. Not gonna say much about it because of spoilers, but… damn, man, you don't interrupt date night.

Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this chapter, though we're officially over half-way done with this story. I'm not planning on going any farther than thirty chapters with this, but don't you fear as I've already started on the sequel.

Thanks so much to the people who are favoriting, following and reviewing this story. I love you more than Wilson Fisk loves his city 3

Seriously though, you guys are awesome. You're all awesome.

Adara.

Chapter Sixteen:

November 02, 2004, SHIELD Base: Academy of Operations, Location: Recruit Barracks

"Alright kids, I'm betting kitchen duty." Nicole arched an eyebrow at Trip, her face otherwise completely impassive as he tossed a scrap of paper into the upturned hat. "Best assignment there is."

"Bullshit." The girl on her left, Sarah Phillips, snorted. Her long brown hair was frizzy at the ends and pulled back out of her face as she began shuffling the deck again. "Best assignment there is, is inventory."

"Inventory?" Klein scoffed, "Inventory is boring as hell."

It was a standard game amongst the four of them; bullshit mixed with gambling over their chore list. First person out of cards got to pick which one they wanted to do, and so on until the loser was usually stuck with the worst. And boy, she wouldn't want to be the worst when they found out what she was putting into the pot.

"I kind of like inventory." Nicole murmured, clicking her pen as she scribbled down her own assignment. "I'm putting in latrines."

There was a collective of groans and swears from around the table, and Trip actively dropped his face into his hands. "C'mon girl, you can't do us like that."

She couldn't help but smirk up at her friends, half expecting them to pull out of the game. It wouldn't be the first time that it had happened; Nicole had a damn good bluff. Luckily for her, they had all been plied with just enough beer to make them think that they stood a chance, and she felt good about this upcoming game.

Klein shifted slightly as another recruit came hustling by; Grant Ward looked as pissed off as always, not even bothering to apologize when he bumped into them. Nicole watched the dark haired boy go by, a slight frown furrowing her lips. He had been brought in by John Garret, who was sort of a legend in SHIELD, but the kid was a loner if ever she'd seen one. She had tried to be friendly to him but, other than a few terse conversations he kept to himself. It made things difficult, because Ops liked to stress teamwork and Ward had made it blatantly obvious that he worked on his own.

"Oi," Klein's voice cut through her thoughts, bringing her attention back to the game at hand. "Any of you other assholes want in on this? We're betting chores."

"Ain't no way in hell that I'm betting shit against Dugan." Avery shook her head, looking up from a big book. "I've got kitchen duty too, and I'm not losing it. Enjoy cleaning the shitters, Klein."

"Hey!" He ran a hand through his red hair, trying to smooth out the spiky strands. "Why does everyone always assume that I'm going to lose?"

"Because you always lose, man." Trip answered lazily, shaking his head. "It's proven science."

"He has a point, Cam." Nicole nodded, collecting her hand. "You've got absolutely no poker face."

There was a murmur of assent as the four trainees began sorting out their hands, until Trip laid down two cards. "Two aces."

"Hey, I got the new Harry Potter movie on DVD if you guys want to watch it later." Phillips offered, "Single four."

"I'm down. The third book was my favorite." Nicole nodded, smiling at her friend. "And Trip, we still on for our Lord of the Rings marathon? I finally got the extended editions."

"Oh, girl, you know it." He smirked, nudging her in the thigh with his foot. "Gotta break those babies in. Single five."

"You guys are such fucking nerds." Klein snorted, collecting three cards out of his hand and setting them down. "Three sixes."

Trip nudged her leg again, a little more meaningfully before he slid a subtle gaze over to the redheaded man sitting across from him.

"Bullshit." Nicole announced, listening to him groan as he slapped his hand down to collect the pile.

"Sonofa…" She couldn't help but laugh, trying and failing to hide it behind her hand.

"Sorry pumpkin, but you've gotta learn to manage that tell of yours."

IOI

September 20, 2011, Location: Atlanta, GA

Waking up to a slight hangover from spending the night drinking was not something that occurred often for Nicole, though it had been known to happen from time to time. Waking up with a distinct bite of pain in her lower back from sleeping in some sort of awkward position was, however, very common. Before she even opened her eyes, before the memories of the night before came back to her, she shifted herself slightly in an attempt to roll off of her stomach.

And her legs promptly fell onto the floor.

What the… huh? Her eyes sprang open at that and boy that was a bad idea because her head started up with a pounding that she should not be experiencing.

She had gotten drunk before, a great many times before, but it usually burned out through her high metabolism by the time she woke up in the morning. The exception to that was, of course, when she had gotten drunk on Asgard because the alcohol there was brewed for individuals that had much higher metabolic rates than the average Midgardian. As far as she was aware however, Nicole hadn't actually drank any of that mead, leading her to believe that she had, in fact, ingested much more than initially thought.

Well, I did have that drinking contest. She thought to herself, waiting and expecting her room to come into focus. And then we went to that club and I must have drank a lot more.

And then wasn't there bourbon after they'd gotten back?

Nicole rubbed a hand down her face, grimacing at the way it came back a little sticky with streaks of smeared make up on it. That was unpleasant, and she promised herself that she would never drink again.

It was a lie, but it was a comforting lie.

"Okay, Dugan." She muttered, "Time to get up and get a shower."

She pushed her hands into the mattress, letting out an undignified squeak when it rolled to the side and she went sinking back down. Her head flopped into a mixture of the pile of blankets and something firmer, and that was when she realized that her mattress was, in fact, not a mattress rather it was a person. It was a large, blonde person with a shoulder to waist ratio that was not incomparable to a Dorito, who was currently sleeping on the floor of her treehouse. And Nicole had sprawled herself out across his back, with her feet propped up on the bench-couch, wearing her dress from last night and a brightly colored fleece blanket.

Okay, what in the actual hell did happen last night?

She rolled her dry tongue around her alcohol tasting mouth, trying one more time to climb to her feet without tripping over Steve. She could kind of remember, they'd dropped Katie off in bed, and then they'd gone up to the treehouse to look at the stars. And she'd snatched bourbon from somewhere along the way, probably the liquor cabinet in Jack's office, which explained why she'd ended up going to sleep up here. And Nicole could easily put two and two together, sometime in the night she'd probably shifted and flopped off of the makeshift bed and onto Steve.

Easy as that.

Except…

Oh my god, did I kiss him? As if to answer her question Steve shifted his face to the side, and she could see the faint shimmer of her lipstick on his face and fuck, fuck, fuck.

Nicole backed out of the treehouse and onto the deck, flinching against the bright sunlight that speared down at her. Thank god that her headache was already starting to go away, and her motor control returning to its normal sup-par morning capabilities, because at the moment the only thing she wanted to do was go inside, get a shower and find some way to travel back in time to murder drunk Nicole.

She realized halfway down the spiral stairs that she was overreacting, that she kissed her friends all the time, and had never freaked out about it. Which wasn't entirely true; Nicole had actually had much of the same response the first time she'd drunkenly made out with Trip–and they had actually done a lot more than just a quick kiss–or when she'd kissed Bobbi during that mission, or that awkward time she had locked lips with Tony… she'd kissed a lot of people, was the point.

So why was she so embarrassed?

Because she had kissed Steve frickin' Rogers. The person she had idolized since she'd been a kid, and—if she were completely honest with herself—the person that she'd occasionally imagined kissing a lot when she was younger and… oh God her face had to be the color of her dress by now. And the aftermath… how much would he read into this? People didn't just casually kiss other people in the twenties, or thirties, or even the forties. At least, not the kind of fingers-sinking-into-hair, smeared lipstick, kissing that had gone on last night.

A part of Nicole wished that she didn't remember as much of last night as she did. The crisp autumn air—if someone acclimated to northern temperatures could call it autumn—was working like a charm to chase away any of the lingering fog in her brain and she could remember it all exactly. He'd gotten her bundled down on the couch, ready for bed and she had been thinking something along the lines of he's such a sweetheart, and so nice, and handsome… I like handsome boys. I like handsome girls too, but Steve's not a girl and I'ma kiss him.

Oh boy had she kissed him.

Her first post-inebriated thought on the matter was to wonder where Captain America had learned to kiss like that because for someone with little practice it was good. But then she realized that the last person he had kissed had been Peggy just before he'd gone down into the ice, and the thought filled her with a sense of vertigo that had her stomach pitching slightly. Nicole shook her head slightly as she crossed the yard, still early enough for there to be dew slicking the green grass and leaving pieces sticking to her feet. She needed time to think, time to process everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and the best place to do that was, and always would be, in the shower.

"Mornin' sweetheart." Nicole let out another squeak at her grandpa's smug voice, jumping about a foot in the air and flying away from the back door that she'd been trying to sneak in. "Long night?"

She whipped her head around to see him sitting in his favorite chair, cup of coffee in hand and a copy of the newspaper open on his lap. And just like his voice had implied, he was watching her with a smug smirk, though he tried to make his expression as innocent as possible.

"Wh—what time is it?" She stammered, smothering her yawn behind her hand.

Her grandpa checked the watch on his wrist, arching an eyebrow. "Just off seven. Your mom and Jack are already out at work. Katie's sleeping it off down in the basement and everyone else is still asleep. It's just you and me kiddo."

Play it cool.

"Coffee?" Because apparently she couldn't trust herself with more than one word statements.

Dum Dum snorted into his cup, lowering it to gesture towards the house. "Still pretty fresh, this is the first cup from the new pot."

"O—Okay." She backed towards the laundry room, waving her hand absently. "I'm, uh, I'm going to go and get a shower. Morning stuff and… yeah."

"Ah." The older man nodded gravely. "Yes, morning stuff and yeah. Of course."

That seemed to break through whatever residual awkwardness had grabbed a hold of Nicole, because she lowered the hand that was still pressed to her face with a glare that lacked in sincerity. "Oh, har-dee-har, you're so clever. Absolutely hilarious."

"I know." Came the chipper response, followed up by another grin. "But don't you have some morning stuff to do? Unless you planned on spending your entire day wearing that? Which, don't get me wrong String Bean, you pull off the dress well but I wouldn't want anyone mistaking you for a raccoon."

Nicole let out a groan at that, forcing her dehydrated body back on its original course straight to her bedroom. She didn't even pay much attention to the clothes she was digging out of her dresser, taking the time to make sure that she at least had one of everything that would ensure proper coverage.

The shower itself was refreshing; Nicole had a tendency to start with hot water and then gradually let it cool whenever she bathed in the morning. By the time she had stepped out from behind the frosted glass doors, skin scrubbed pink as a night of sweat, make-up and questionable decisions were washed away, she felt like a whole new person. A whole new person that was ready to deal with the day. Nicole ran her comb through the tangle of red curls, watching as the damp strands started springing back up.

She twisted the strands together, wrapping them up in a bun that was guaranteed to take a long time to dry as it was pinned in place. Nicole caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she went about the task of brushing her teeth and even with last night's make-up washed off, she still had bags under her eyes and her skin looked to be in some serious need of moisturizing.

"Lotion in the bedroom somewhere." It should be anyway, that was where she last used it.

Nicole pushed open the door to her bathroom, hands over her face and feeling her way around more by familiarity than anything else when, in the fuck-up that was her life, she ran right into a wall.

Except it couldn't be a wall because most of her walls were plastered with shelves, posters or picture frames and she had been pretty sure that she'd been moving in a straight line. Also her walls didn't have arms that reached out to steady her when she ran into them…

Or that shoulder to waist ration of a Dorito.

"Gah!" She yelped, dropping her hands as her face turned bright red again and she was reminded once more that she had actually kissed Steve.

And upon realizing that, the after-sensation was not unlike the one she'd gotten when she'd accidentally kissed Tony on the New Years of her twenty first birthday.

Ew.

"Sorry, are you okay?" He apologized instantly, his hair mussed from sleep and his eyes slightly unfocused. "Wasn't watching where I was going."

"Neither was I actually." She answered, "Literally though, I had my hands over my face and couldn't see a thing."

"I–why?" He arched an eyebrow at her, amusement giving him an adorable look that made her want to reach up and smooth out his hair.

"I… don't know, because I was? Like, it's one of those weird things you do when you wake up in the morning you know." She answered, stepping around him. "There's coffee in the kitchen, if you want some and the bathroom's open."

Steve opened his mouth, looking as though there was something he wanted to say, and Nicole could already imagine where this conversation was going. "Nicole, wait a second."

She froze, scratching at the back of her neck and feeling the heat that was blooming there. For his part, Steve looked equally uncomfortable, and the way he mirrored her posture with his hand rubbing up and down his neck was almost hilarious.

"I, um, I think that we should talk about last night." He began, and really this should not be so awkward.

"Right!" Granted she and logic were not on good footing at the moment, as evidenced by the way her voice rose a few octaves. Put her in a room full of people who wanted to kill each other and she could probably convince them to play a mild mannered game of cards in an hour. But try to get her to discuss her own embarrassing shortcomings and she was referred to a stuttering mess.

"Look, it was probably just an accident but—"

"I think you're great and all, but—"

She froze, mouth gaping open for a moment before she snapped it shut audibly. Steve let out a chuckle that tapered off into a sigh, pinching at the bridge of his nose before his fingers spread out to drag his entire hand down his face. It was that, both of them hearing what the other had been about to say and recognizing the exact same tone and intent, that made Nicole realize how ridiculous she was being.

Because for some reason she had begun assuming—what? That she had kissed Steve when she was drunk and he would have taken it for a fumbling attempt at a relationship? Was that really why she had been so nervous?

"God, I'm an idiot." She laughed, dropping onto her bed. "I'm a huge freaking idiot."

"You're not an idiot." Steve sat down beside her, brow furrowed slightly as he stared down at his hands. "I think we're both a little weird, but you're not an idiot."

Nicole leaned to the side instinctively, pulling back before she rested her head on Steve's shoulder in a gesture that had become almost second nature between them. They needed to clear the air on this first, and that would be easier done without sending any sort of mixed signals that could be misinterpreted by either of them. The redhead took a deep breath, lacing her fingers together as her thumbs danced back and forth in a nervous gesture.

"No, I really am right now. But I'm just gonna say it right now, put it out there; I kissed you last night." With a loud exhale and a burst of sudden energy Nicole was on her feet, arms crossed as she chewed on her thumbnail. "And I was drunk, but you kissed me back–not that I'm mad about it or anything–and for some reason I automatically assumed that you had tacked on some sort of romantic intent, because I don't know, people didn't casually make out in the society that you were raised in?"

She shouldn't have drawn that conclusion, especially not when Steve had so many other things on his plate that romance was probably down towards the bottom. He had told her, their last night in DC, that he didn't wasn't looking for any sort of relationship so why in the hell had she just thought he'd read something more into that?

"And that was stupid of me, it really was, because I've spent so much time trying to convince people that kissing someone and just being friends aren't mutually exclusive. The point is, Steve, that I very much like being your friend, and I would very much like for us to remain friends." She finished, risking a glance at his face.

Steve was staring at the window, his jaw tight and brows pinched in a classically thoughtful expression that she had seen a great many times on his face. Other than that, however, his body seemed relaxed, and she watched as he practically sagged in relief. Blue eyes turned back to her, and Nicole could easily see the mirror of emotion in the depth of his gaze, and underneath that still the look of wounded loss that wouldn't take a quick, awkward explanation to fix.

"I like that idea." He seemed to consider something for a moment before he let out a surprised laugh of his own, pushing the heel of his hand into his eye. "And I won't lie, I had entertained the idea for a little bit… but really, I don't think either of us are ready for that sort of thing. Especially not with each other. I'm perfectly happy with just being friends."

"Yeah?" One eyebrow quirked playfully then, and Nicole reached out to playfully punch him in the shoulder. "Good, then since we're such great friends, buddy, you get to make breakfast."

"Hey!" Steve yelped, rubbing the point of contact as he glared over at her. "That's not fair. I made breakfast last time."

"You–how d'ya figure?" Nicole scoffed, snatching the bottle of lotion that was sitting on her dresser. The bottle of lotion that she had initially been searching for. "We had cereal yesterday!"

"And," Steve stressed, watching as she slathered some of the lotion onto her arms. "I was the one who got down the bowls. Therefore, I did most of the work."

Nicole let out a disbelieving grunt at that, rubbing up and down her arms. "Bullspit, Rogers."

"And besides, we'll settle this disagreement like adults." She lifted one finger and placed it casually against the side of her nose. "Nose goes, not it!"

"And how is that fair?" The blonde called, though she was already out of her room and running down the hall cackling.

"Don't you realize? Life isn't fair!"

But if she was lucky, and luck was something that was either emphatically on her side or completely absent, life would be able to go back to some semblance of normalcy.

IOI

September 22, 2011, Location: Atlanta, GA

"Look on the bright side mom," Nicole offered, sitting on the edge of the sofa. "You've got one day left until the weekend."

Emily groaned in response, lying back with an ice pack on her head as she tried to find a comfortable position. "There's still so much to do. We don't even have the guest list fully compiled yet and I need that for the caterers. Not to mention we have to set up for the kids that are coming over, and I wanted to go get my hair done for the party but I can't with the time-frame…"

"Hey." Nicole dropped down off of the arm so that she was occupying the corner seat. "Stop for a second and relax. I thought you already had a guest list?"

She hated seeing her mom like this; high strung and trying to handle a million things at once. It had been really bad when they'd first moved down to Georgia, but at the time Nicole had been a kid with her own problems so she'd missed the worst of the tight smiles and bags under her mother's eyes. Her mom had tried to hide them too, for the same reason many parents did; she needed to be strong for her child. Except Nicole wasn't just that scared little kid anymore, and now her mom had family and friends that could help her so she didn't need to handle it alone.

"I gave you the master list of everyone I sent invites. And about two thirds of them have replied with either yeas or nays, but that's still a good portion of people I haven't heard back from." The older woman replied, "And Jack's been out late these past two days with community projects so I can't go over everything with him. Why did I think a party was a good idea?"

"Because you wanted to celebrate a momentous occasion in your life with the people that make you happy?" She offered, watching as Steve quietly rose out of his seat. He didn't say anything, just went into the kitchen and took down one of the red mugs from the cabinet. "Which isn't a bad thing, ma. So stop worrying so much, because everything is going to be fine."

"There's still so much work to do though!" Nicole noticed that despite her protests, her mother remained sprawled on the couch with her eyes closed.

"We can do it." Steve announced suddenly as he returned, a mug of steaming tea in his hands. "Here, I made some tea."

"I can't ask you kids to do that, not when you're here on vacation." Emily sat up slightly, lowering the ice pack onto the coffee table as she took the cup in both hands. "Besides it's–"

"Emily Margaret Walker." They all looked up at that stern voice coming from the back of the room, to where Dum Dum was leaning against the wall and watching his daughter. "You are my daughter and I love you, but you are going to let us help you with this."

"But I–" She tried to protest, only to be silenced by Nicole.

"You are going to go take a bubble bath, read that book you've been wanting to read, and then get a good night's sleep." The redhead decided. "Tomorrow Katie, Aunt Ellen and I will start calling the people on the list to see who's coming and who's not. If we have any questions, we'll text you or something."

"Mark, Steve and I will get out the stuff from the garage and clean it up so that it can be set out." Her mom looked like she wanted to protest, but the combined expressions on both her daughter's and her father's faces kept her from doing so.

It was just like her mom too; she was a bit of a perfectionist, and preferred doing things by herself so that she could make certain that they were done properly. It had been a lesser type of hell when she'd been growing up, but Nicole had come to value the attention to detail that it had instilled in her. Especially when it came to her job, where even the smallest detail could spell the different between a successful mission and a shootout in a fancy hotel lobby.

Emily bit back a rueful smile, knowing when she was outnumbered. "Alright… but you ask me if you have any questions, got it?"

"Mhm." Nicole hummed, leaning back against the cushions as the front door opened. "Hey Jack!"

"Coo-wee, what a day." The huge man said in response, pulling off his jacket and hanging it up as he switched his briefcase between hands. "Everybody wanting something from me."

"That bad?" Steve asked, leaning back on his heels.

Jack offered a wide, albeit slightly tired, smile at the group in the living room, kicking off his shoes by the door before coming all the way into the living room. "Well, between planning for the Atlanta Pride Festival, talking to a couple of people about the food bank and the game tomorrow night… let's just say that it was busy."

"Hey baby." Emily climbed to her feet to greet her husband, setting down the mug of tea as she pulled him into a hug. "I'd ask how work was, but…"

"Cher," He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "I just want to sit down, kick up my feet, and stop thinking for a little bit."

"Oh?" Nicole rolled her eyes at the playful expression that stole over her mom's face, herding Steve and her grandpa to the kitchen. "Because I've been told that I absolutely must go take a bubble bath. And we did remodel the master bathroom to hold that great big bathtub."

"Ew." She muttered, making a gagging noise as Jack growled playfully and her mom started giggling.

They had told her that her parents would get better with age, but it just hadn't happened yet.

"Hey now," Steve laughed, "would you rather they didn't love each other at all?"

The redhead glared impotently at him, rolling her eyes as the two went down the hall where the rooms were. "I would rather not have to listen into that kind of stuff."

"Imagine how I feel?" Her grandpa scoffed, arms crossed. "That's my daughter."

"Yeah," Nicole flicked a bit of water at him, "Well for you it's just the natural order of things. Payback for all of the gross stuff mom had to put up with from you and Nana when she was younger."

And yes, she was aware of how hypocritical that sounded, but at the moment the redhead couldn't bring herself to care.

"I'll have you know that your grandmother and I didn't do anything gross." Dum Dum reached into the fridge to pull out a couple of bottled drinks, before turning his attention to the cabinets.

"That's a lie." Mark snorted, coming in from the patio to throw away an empty bag of chips and a couple of beer bottles. "You and mom were at it like rabbits. It was a miracle that we didn't have more siblings."

Nicole laughed at her uncle's words, shaking her head as she snagged the first pretzel out of the bag her grandpa had claimed. "He has a point Papou, the baby boomer generation is one of the largest. You were on the low end with only two kids."

"Two was plenty." Dum Dum snorted, "Plenty enough to deal with."

"Hey guys," Mark chuckled. "We're about to start a new round of poker if you two want to join?"

"I'm game." Steve agreed quickly, "Ain't played cards in a long time."

"Hey, Steve, you remember that game we played back in New Zealand?" Her grandpa asked, clapping a big hand on his friend's shoulder. "The one where Morita was already drunk off of that wine we repurposed from that Hydra base?"

The grin that lit up Steve's face was huge and brilliant, and he threw his head back with a loud laugh. "Oh yeah, and he was so far in the hole that he started betting his clothes?"

"We–" The older man had to stop to reclaim his breath as he doubled over in laughter. "We all teamed up to beat him, and he ended up running around the camp as naked as the day he was born until we took pity and threw him his trousers back."

Nicole let out a giggle at the mental image, hiding it behind her hand. "Okay, I'll play too. Though I'll admit I'm not that great."

Which was not exactly true; she had been the reigning champ back at Ops for her entire stay.

"Don't let her lie." Mark shook his head, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Nicky's got a poker face the likes of which you won't believe. If you let her, she'll hustle you right out of every last cent."

"I'm not that good." The redhead shook her head in denial. "I can hold my own though."

"Prove it, Dugan." Steve had a cocky smirk on his face as her uncle and grandpa turned back to the patio. "Unless you're chicken."

"Oh is that a challenge?" Her eyebrow climbed up her forehead, practically disappearing into her hairline. "Are you calling me yellow?"

Nobody calls Marty McFly yellow.

Steve was saved from answering as the phone started ringing.

"We'll finish this discussion later." She promised, pulling it off of the receiver. "Go ahead and start the first round without me."

The blonde bobbed his head in ascent, backing out down the hall with his own drink in hand as he went out to the patio to join the rest of her family. "I'll be expecting my money with a gracious apology Dugan."

"Bite my ass, Rogers." She muttered under her breath, before quickly pressing the house phone to her ear. "Walker residence, Nicole speaking."

"Nicole? Hi, it's Pepper!" A familiar voice answered cheerfully from the other end. "We, well, I was calling about the invitation to your mom's anniversary party."

Nicole frowned at that, turning around to grab the clipped together list off of the fridge and flipping through it. Sure enough, on the last page amidst streaks of yellow and blue, there was Tony's name and contact information.

"Oh, okay." She pursed her lips and started searching around for a pen. "I don't know why but I hadn't even thought about whether you guys were invited."

Which sounded a lot less rude in her head, she realized with a grimace. "Oh, okay… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

Pepper let out a soft laugh, and she could easily picture the amused expression that the woman must be wearing. "It's fine, I totally understand. We—and by we, I mean I again because Tony still treats me like his assistant—were gonna call earlier to RSVP but it's been hell trying to push around board meetings so that I could just get one weekend off."

"I would tell you I know that feel," Nicole joked, popping the lid off of the yellow highlighter to run the tip over Tony's name. "But to be honest, I do not."

"I don't recommend it to anyone. But we are definitely planning to come to the party, if your mom will have us." Pepper answered fondly, though she could detect the barely masked exhaustion in the woman's voice. It made Nicole wonder about the offer Stark Industries' CEO had made her before they'd left DC; was the promise of a girl's day more to the benefit of her, or for Pepper herself?

Either way, as soon as she got a bit of time to herself, she'd be sure to take the woman up on it. Because Pepper was a delight, and Nicole definitely enjoyed hanging out with her.

"Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem. I'll let her know that you went ahead and RSVP'd, and while the party officially starts at two, it'll be fine if you guys want to come a little later." Leaning her back against the countertop, Nicole watched absently as the sun started to drop lower in the sky. "Though, I need you to do me a favor…"

"Why do I get the feeling that this favor has something to do with Tony?" Pepper drawled.

"Because you are obviously the brains of the operation." Nicole answered brightly. "But seriously, I know that he means well and all but we both realize that Tony can get a little… over the top. A personality like that, he has a tendency to make things about himself without meaning to and while I know he wouldn't do it on purpose, I just…"

"Want to make sure that the party stays about your mom and dad?" Pepper finished helpfully, "I get you. And don't worry, it might not seem like it but Tony actually can be low-key every now and again. I'll make sure he's on his best behavior for Saturday."

"Thanks so much Pep." Nicole breathed a sigh of relief. "You're a goddess. And for the love of all things beautiful, don't let him bring one of his suits."

There was a contemplative pause on the other end, and in the background Nicole could faintly hear the sound of Tony talking rapid-fire in the background. "That might be a little harder, but I'll see what I can do."

"Alright cool. I'll let you enjoy the walking tornado that is Tony Stark." She laughed, "I've gotta go clean out a national hero."

"Do us proud!" Pepper joked. They said their goodbyes after that, and Nicole smiled as she hung up the phone and returned her attention to the list. It was pretty large, five pages of names and phone numbers, some highlighted in blue if they weren't coming and yellow if they were. The majority of the names were still undecided, and it looked like they were going to have a busy day calling all of the friends and family that hadn't responded yet.

She flipped through the list, looking for a particular name, and grinned when she saw it haloed in yellow.

Nicole was utterly thrilled that her uncle Charlie was going to be coming down; other than her Mama Josie, Charlie had to be one of her favorite relatives on Jack's side of the family. He had been a veteran of the Vietnam War, had received a purple heart during his service, and afterwards he had moved out to the coast of Florida. The only member of her family that hadn't been married and had never planned to, Nicole still remembered all of the crazy stories he had told her when she was younger. Her favorite was still the time he had smuggled medical supplies to Cuba on his boat.

She couldn't tell whether he had been telling the truth or not, but even if only half of his stories had been real, he was in the top ten on her list of ultimate badasses.

"Sweet." She whistled happily, returning the list to the fridge before heading out on the patio. Simon was out in the yard playing ball with Chauncey, within full view of the adults, and everyone else—with the exception of her parents who were doing God only knew what—was seated around the table with a hand of cards and a pile of coins in the center.

Nicole had arrived just in time to see Steve collecting the pot, earning a groan from Katie as she threw down her hand.

"That's it." She groaned, "I'm out. I'm done. I'm just digging myself farther into debt the longer I play."

"Sweetie," Nicole laughed at her cousin, "we've discussed this… you are absolutely horrible at poker. Here, gimme your seat and I'll see if I can win back some of the money you lost."

"Buy in's five dollars." Ellen told her, collecting the cards and shuffling them expertly. Her aunt, while now a nurse, had invested a lot of her time during college into learning card tricks and it was evident by the flares she used while shuffling. "Ante is a nickel, cap is fifty cents."

"Alright…" Fishing out her wallet, Nicole passed over a crumpled bill to her grandpa, who put it with another set of bills before counting out the appropriate change. Eight quarters, ten dimes, and forty nickels out of the poker jar, they were neatly stacked and organized in a little pile right beside her.

"Who's ready to kiss their money goodbye?" She asked lazily, leaning back in her chair. "What's the game?"

"Omaha high-low." Mark answered, collecting the hand that his wife dealt out to him.

Steve smirked at her from across the table, and Nicole did her absolute best to make sure that her expression was completely relaxed. It wasn't that hard, she had learned how to play poker from her grandpa when she'd been five; they would play for candy and he had taught her all of the tricks to the trade. That had been her beginning in the game, but recruits had a tendency to play in their downtime, often betting different chores and favors against one another. Those stakes had been a lot higher than a couple of butterscotches, and Nicole could proudly say that she had never been stuck with latrine duty once during the academy.

She wouldn't say that she wasn't concerned with her competition however; she knew that her Papou was a strong player, and so was her uncle Mark. Luckily, Aunt Ellen was only moderately better than Katie... it was Steve that she was unsure about. She'd never played against Rogers before, he was a wildcard, and one that had proven to be good at reading expressions.

Still, the blonde had made the mistake of challenging her, and Nicole was determined to win no matter what the cost.

"I bet ten." She began, tossing a dime into the middle of the table.

Let the games begin.

IOI

"And I literally had this intern believing that we'd discovered a new sub-population of humans in South America." Mark finished, reciting a story she had heard several times in the past. "I'm all in."

It didn't stop her from laughing at it though, because no matter how many times he told it, Nicole would always find that tale hilarious. She could only imagine the poor intern's face when he realized that they were pulling the wool over his eyes.

"That's kind of mean," Steve laughed, "but also really hilarious."

They were reaching the end of their game, her uncle betting his last quarter, when they showed their hands.

"Read 'em and weep." Nicole declared, well aware of how cliché she sounded. Still, when she had such a high hand, it was hard to prevent herself from sounding just a little smug. "I'll be taking that."

Steve watched her carefully, her pile of winnings just a little bigger than his, as he played around with the edge of his t-shirt. His face was also carefully devoid of emotion, though there was slight amusement tracing his features. It had come down to the two of them, as she had somewhat suspected it would. Nicole hadn't been expecting her grandfather to fold out right after Aunt Ellen had however, but every now and again they could hear him shout out as he played with Simon.

"Deal the cards, Dugan." Steve challenged again, and really that shade of arrogance wasn't attractive on him. "Unless you wanna admit defeat."

Oh, was he trying to trash talk her? This was not going to end well for either of them, she suspected.

"I'd have to be losing to admit defeat, blondie." She collected the deck, bridging the cards and making sure they were mixed thoroughly before she began dealing them out. "And that sure as heck ain't happening. Name of the game is Texas hold' em."

"Why do I feel like we're about to witness a death match?" Jack asked lightly from his seat, the one that had belonged to her grandfather before he'd gone off to play with Simon.

Emily just grinned from her position in her husband's lap.

It wasn't a bad analogy, though Nicole doubted that she would end up engaging in mortal combat with Steve over the sake of her pride. Of course, that didn't mean that she wasn't taking this card game very seriously, because she was. She most certainly was.

"Oh, mom." She slid a quick glance over to Steve, lifting up her two cards. "I got a call from Tony and Pep. They said they're coming down on Saturday."

A queen and a ten, not bad.

"Call." Steve announced, placing a small stack of coins in the pot.

"That's… good to know." Emily hummed in response. "You did already tell him that he was, under no circumstances, to bring that suit of his?"

"I told Pepper." Nicole raised her bet, feeling pretty good about her chances. "And she said she'd take care of it. She also apologized about how long it took to reply."

Emily nodded almost to herself, a half smile on her face. "I always liked Ms. Potts. She was so polite, and such a sweetheart. And she does such a good job of managing that boy."

"I still don't understand how Tony managed to land himself a girl like that." Mark shook his head. "She seems so… nice, and down to earth."

"Suspect that it has something to do with mind control." Steve muttered. "I'm pretty sure that if we say nutmeg, she'll just sort of wake up and start screaming."

"Ha." Nicole snorted, reaching over for her glass of tea. "I doubt that. Tony's not a horrible guy, he's got his good qualities."

"Yes, like harboring runaways." Emily added, causing everyone to burst out laughing. Everyone except Steve, who, after adding in his next bet, nudged Nicole's foot for clarification.

"When I was… oh, gosh, eight? School had let out for spring break, and I was spending it up in DC with Papou. I forget what it was, I really do, but I was all wrapped up in eight year old indignation and when he was at work I decided I was going to run away. Show them." She flipped her cards and… shit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I think I won that hand." Steve gasped overdramatically, reaching forward to scoop up the change. "But please continue."

"Watch it, Rogers." She threatened, passing the cards over to him. "Typically when eight-year-olds try to run away they make it to the end of the block before getting scared and going back home."

"Nicole made it to New York." Emily deadpanned, reaching out to whack her daughter upside the head. "Nearly gave us all a heart attack."

Steve looked up in surprise, fingers pausing with the cards still trapped between them. "You made it all the way to New York?"

Nicole knew she was blushing, and reached up to rub the spot where her mom had smacked her. "It didn't seem that hard at the time; I'd been saving up all of my allowance money to go souvenir shopping and in a fit of childish rage I spent it on bus and subway fare to the city. Anyway, so there I was in the big apple, walking around and realizing that maybe I had gotten in over my head, when who should happen to find me but Tony Stark. Suffice it to say, I had been starting to lose my cool when I'd literally ran right into him. I don't know who was more surprised at the time, me or him."

She still remembered the look on his face when she'd bumped into him. He'd been wearing a ridiculously gaudy red pin-stripe suit and his hair had been a train wreck disguised as fashion. It had been the first time she had actually seen the billionaire struck speechless. It hadn't lasted long of course, he'd immediately asked her what in the hell she was doing in New York, and when she'd explained he'd looked a mix of horrified and impressed.

"Well," Tony had shrugged, replacing his sunglasses over his eyes, "if you're gonna be a runaway, you'd better do it in style."

"He took me back to Stark Industries, and shows me to his lab. At some point he must have snuck off to make a call to Papou, all I remember is that we were making a night-light when he'd come bursting into the lab." One corner of her mouth lifted in a half smile as they continued playing. "I thought I was going to be in so much trouble, I started bawling immediately. He just wrapped me up in a huge hug and told me that he was glad I was okay. I don't know who was more ticked off when they found out; SHIELD or my mom."

"Considering that you didn't tell me until you were sixteen?" Emily growled, "I'd say it was me."

"The point is," Nicole snorted, "that Tony actually has a weird sort of way with kids. He kept me from completely freaking out the entire time. Which was probably a good thing because I could have set something on fire."

Steve looked thoughtful for a moment, the only sounds being Simon shrieking in delight in the yard and the clinking of change as their pot grew progressively bigger. "Good to know that you've been stubborn and making horrible decisions from a young age."

"Oi!" Nicole yelped, placing a hand to her heart and giving him a wounded look. "You hurt me."

"Mhm." Steve rolled his eyes at her, sighing as he reached up to rub at his eyes. "I'm all in."

Nicole didn't respond for a moment, watching him in surprise. "All in? That's a bold move, Rogers. But fine, I'll match. All in."

"Moment of truth, Dugan. Show me what you've got." Steve revealed his hand, "Three of a kind, kings."

She pursed her lips at that, brown eyes flicking back and forth from her hand to his. "Oh… oh no. Oh man."

An evil smirk curved her lips as she flipped her hands. "That's a real shame, pretty boy, because I've got a full house!"

There was a mix of cheers–mostly hers–and groans as she collected her winnings, laughing at the dumbfounded expression on her friend's face. "Son of a…"

"What was that Rogers? Was it me putting my money where my mouth is? I think it was." She laughed, counting out the change. "I've got 19.35."

"Alright, let me see here…" Katie began counting bills out of the poker jar, handing the appropriate amount over to her. "Good job cousin."

"All in a day's work." Tossing the extra change back in, Nicole counted out five of it and passed it over to her cousin. "That was a lot of fun, but I think I'm done playing for the night."

"That might actually be for the best." Ellen nodded, pushing up from her seat. "It's getting kind of late, and it's about time for Simon to start getting ready for bed."

"Probably for the best." Jack smirked, "Where is the little rugrat? Still terrorizing make believe cities?"

"Hey!" They looked up to see Simon being carried in Dum Dum's arms, his head dangling by his grandfather's hips. "I was a knight slaying a dwagon!"

"Yeah Jack!" Dum Dum gasped, insulted. "And he did a very good job of slaying this dragon, I'm pooped. Which means it's time to go brush your teeth and get ready for bed."

"But!" The four year old pouted, the effect lost as he dangled a few feet off the ground.

"No buts mister," Ellen was using a stern mothering voice that Nicole could definitely commiserate with. She'd been there, and unfortunately there was no helping him now. "Brush your teeth, get changed and then it's story time before you go to bed."

"Fiiine. But I want Nicky to read me a story!" He decided, pointing a finger at her. Nicole couldn't help but smile lovingly at her cousin, pushing out of her chair to collect the child and carry him upright. Chauncey trotted up to her then, brushing against her ankles before leading the way into the house. One thing was for certain; her dog liked her the best… unless there was a child involved.

"I can do that, kiddo. I'm the best at reading stories." She ruffled her hand through his hair, walking with him to the bathroom. "Can you brush your teeth by yourself?"

"Of course I can!" Simon glared at her as though she'd personally insulted his honor, and the redhead lifted her hands in surrender as she took a step back. As she supervised Simon getting ready for bed, she couldn't help the small smile on her face. She didn't get to do things like this very often; with her aunt and uncle all the way out in Montana and the rest of her family scattered amongst the southern United States, her interactions with children were limited at best. It wasn't exactly like SHIELD was a child-friendly work space either.

She missed having the opportunity to hang out with kids, she really liked them.

"Alright munchkin, let's get you into your pajamas and into bed." Mark and Ellen were staying in one spare room, her Papou in the other, which left her cousins downstairs in the basement. Not that it was a stereotypical cobwebbed and creepy basement; it had been remodeled into a rec room, with the intent to use it for storage as well. So if one was to look past the boxes and cans stacked in one corner, it was actually really nicely furnished with a spare sofa bed, and a smaller air mattress that Simon had emphatically decided that he'd wanted.

"Okay." Simon yawned, reaching for her hand and grasping it as he tugged her towards the stairs leading down to the basement. "You're gonna read to me, right?"

"But of course, mighty knight." She promised, looking through the stack of children's books that had been hers once upon a time. "How about Horton Hears a Who?"

"I like that one!" Simon climbed under the blankets, patting the bed and cooing sleepily as Chauncey flopped down next to him.

Nicole pulled the book off of the shelf, flipping open the cover to see her name scribbled out in a messy hand on the inside. "I'm glad, it's a good book. Alright, let's see here, first page, first page."

She sat down next to the air mattress, stiffening only slightly when Simon immediately curled up into her side with his head resting on her leg. "On the fifteenth of May, in the forest of Nool…"

Simon was out like a light about halfway through the book, his thumb in his mouth and sleeping peacefully. Nicole watched him for a few moments, brushing a few strands of hair out of his face before she carefully extracted herself from his hold and stood up. Chauncey lifted his head curiously, big brown eyes watching her, and she bent down to rub the back of one of his big ears.

"It's okay buddy, you stay here." She whispered, dimming the light and easing back up the basement stairs. There was a softly glowing night-light right next to him, the same one that she had made with Tony years ago, and Nicole couldn't help the wave of nostalgia that went through her as she studied the shadows left on the walls from the lamp. It was made to reflect–sort of–the night sky, a light surrounded by brown-tinted pentagonal glass panels that had little bubbles in them to represent stars. Tony had actually done most of the actual manufacturing of the light itself, but she had been given the role of supervisor.

Shaking her head at the memory, Nicole returned to the main floor of the house and headed straight to her room. They had reached that familiar lull in the day when there was nothing that she really needed to do and she finally had a little time to herself. There was a book that she could finish reading, but after powering through multiple magazines both in print and online, Nicole didn't really feel like reading. Instead she grabbed her laptop and the nerf-foam case that contained her graphics tablet.

Nicole liked drawing, it was therapeutic and expressive, and she had really picked up on it during her first year at the Quarry. There hadn't been a whole lot that she'd been allowed to do in her room, so she'd jumped on the pencils and paper that had been smuggled in to her to do practice problems and schoolwork. After her tutors had complained about the unreasonable amount of doodles on her homework, she'd started getting extra paper.

Eventually she'd started taking an interest in digital art, and when she'd been fifteen her mom had bought her first tablet.

Since then Nicole had upgraded both laptops and tablets, and even though her schedule didn't always allow for the time to actually do much drawing, she still liked to sketch when she could. It was a Wacom tablet, and there was a sticker in the corner that was worn with age from when she'd first put it on.

As she left her room, she noticed her aunt and uncle sitting around the table chatting with her parents over a few cups of coffee, though there was nobody else to be seen. She suspected that everyone else was still out on the patio. A suspicion that was confirmed a few minutes later as her bare feet landed on the cool stone; Katie was excitedly explaining about her residency while both her grandpa and Steve listened.

"My genius cousin, the soon to be surgeon." Nicole beamed at her cousin, setting down her computer and tablet. "I really am proud of you kid."

"God," Katie shoved her lightly on the arm. "You sound like you're thirteen years older than me, instead of like, three."

"Three years is a lot of time." Nicole said. "That's like, an entire movie trilogy."

"You're ridiculous." Both of the women chuckled at that, as Nicole turned her computer on. As it powered up, she took her tablet out of its case and quickly began setting it up. It didn't take long at all, considering the fact that she had done it God only knew how many times in her life, and really the most intensive part of the set up was plugging it into the usb port. Before she opened the program however, her first instinct was to check her email… and immediately regretted doing so. There was one from Coulson that looked like far more work than she wanted to put in on her vacation, so she promptly ignored it.

Perhaps not the wisest choice, but if it was end of the world catastrophe he would call. Really, she suspected that the email contained a lot of paperwork to follow-up the incident from a couple of days ago and no thank you, it's vacation.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked curiously, leaning over the edge of the table to peer at her computer screen.

"I'm drawing stuff." She didn't actually know what she was drawing yet, so stuff seemed like an appropriate characterization. "On my computer."

"I didn't know you drew too." He was watching her with a surprised expression, blue eyes studying the movement of her pen and the corresponding lines on the screen. "What kind of things do you draw?"

"All kinds of things." Nicole answered, "Still art, portraits, fan art, fantasy… I guess it just depends on what mood takes me."

She kind of wanted to draw centaurs right now actually.

"Huh." But Steve was curious, not only about her drawings, but also about the fact that she could do them digitally. Not that she should really be surprised considering the fact that he had been planning on going into animation before the war.

"Would you like me to show you how this works?" She offered, tilting the screen so that he was looking at it and handing him the pen. "It's not that hard once you get the hang of it."

"I… yeah, sure." He had a slightly shy smile on his face, holding the pen carefully in his fingers. "I haven't actually done a whole lot of drawing recently."

"It's alright, neither have I. Really, once you get the hang of the layers and the line work it's easy… until you decide to start coloring." Coloring could be a mess if not done carefully. "But we'll start small."

It was nice to have a little vacation time for herself… especially considering that the next two days were going to be very busy for everyone.e was watching her with wide eyes,